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Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China's Civil War
Scions of a once-great southern Chinese family that produced the tutor of the last emperor, Jun and Hong were each other’s best friends until, in their twenties, they were separated by chance at the end of the Chinese Civil War. For the next thirty years, while one became a model Communist, the other a model capitalist, they could not even communicate.
On Taiwan, Jun married a Nationalist general, established an important trading company, and ultimately emigrated to the United States. On the Communist mainland, Hong built her medical career under a cloud of suspicion about her family and survived two waves of “re-education” before she was acclaimed for her achievements.
Zhuqing Li recounts her aunts’ experiences with extraordinary sympathy and breathtaking storytelling. A microcosm of women’s lives in a time of traumatic change, this is a fascinating, evenhanded account of the recent history of separation between mainland China and Taiwan.
On Taiwan, Jun married a Nationalist general, established an important trading company, and ultimately emigrated to the United States. On the Communist mainland, Hong built her medical career under a cloud of suspicion about her family and survived two waves of “re-education” before she was acclaimed for her achievements.
Zhuqing Li recounts her aunts’ experiences with extraordinary sympathy and breathtaking storytelling. A microcosm of women’s lives in a time of traumatic change, this is a fascinating, evenhanded account of the recent history of separation between mainland China and Taiwan.
12 pages, Audible Audio
First published June 21, 2022
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About the author
Zhuqing Li
5 books24 followersZhuqing Li is a professor of East Asian studies at Brown University and the author of Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden as well as four scholarly books on linguistics and contemporary China. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 231 reviews
June 9, 2022
I’m quite picky when it comes to reading nonfiction books. I tend to gravitate toward biographies and memoirs as well as essay collections, though I do also read general nonfiction when the occasion calls for it (i.e.: book club pick). In these instances, subject matter is pretty important, especially since it takes more focus and concentration on my part to get through a nonfiction book. In this sense, when I read the premise for linguist and East Asian scholar Zhuqing Li’s
Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden
, and saw that it fell perfectly into these 2 categories (biography + nonfiction subject matter I’m interested in), I knew this was a book I would want to read.
While there is some anecdotal information interspersed throughout, majority of Li’s book is actually about her two aunts Jun and Hong, who came of age during one of the most tumultuous times in China’s history. Born 2 years apart into the prominent and wealthy Chen family, the sisters grew up in a beautiful villa in Fuzhou built by their father — a home they came to know as the Flower Fragrant Garden. When the onset of World War II and Japan’s invasion of various parts of China forces the Chen family to flee their home, Jun especially finds her hard-won right to further her education through attending college completely upended. Hong also experiences hardship during this period, but she is ultimately able to finish her studies and fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. At the end of the war, with China and the Allies victorious, the family thought they would be able to return to their former lives as well as their beloved villa in the mountains, but it was not to be. Civil war breaks out between the ruling Nationalist Party and the Communists, with everything coming to a head when Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan and the Communist Party comes to power under Mao Zedong. During this time, the sisters’ lives are changed forever when Jun ends up stuck on an island under Nationalist control and, unable to return to the Mainland, eventually moves to Taiwan and marries a Nationalist general, which results in estrangement from her family for decades. Hong meanwhile endures the many hardships brought about by the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and many of the other disastrous “initiatives” implemented in China during that time. It is not until 1982, after decades apart, with both sisters having survived various hardships, that Jun and Hong are finally able to reunite.
In this chronicle of her two aunts’ extraordinary lives, Zhuqing Li tells the story of her family line set against the backdrop of China’s turbulent post-WWII sociopolitical history and the evolution of the country’s fraught relationship with Taiwan. I actually started this book last week and finished it on Saturday (June 4th), which happened to be the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre (a coincidence that only dawned on me after I finished reading the book). Though this particular story isn’t about Tiananmen Square (despite that event still being mentioned in the book, albeit briefly), its significance in terms of China’s political history is, of course, not lost on me Even though I was only 11 years old when the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred and of course, having already immigrated to the U.S. years before that, I was thousands of miles away, but that didn’t make it any less impactful, especially as a Chinese girl coming of age during that time. In that context, this was, without a doubt, not an easy read by any means — hearing Jun’s and Hong’s stories, with the unflinching descriptions of harrowing experiences they had to endure, the political undercurrents that dominated their entire lives, it was hard not to be moved by the resilience and endurance of these two remarkable women.
Regardless of background, this will undoubtedly be a difficult read for those who decide to pick this one up, but it is well worth the effort. On the surface, this may seem like simply a story of two sisters separated by war, but much deeper than that, it is also an insightful look into Chinese history, culture, politics, and much more.
Received ARC from W. W. Norton via Bookbrowse First Impressions program.
While there is some anecdotal information interspersed throughout, majority of Li’s book is actually about her two aunts Jun and Hong, who came of age during one of the most tumultuous times in China’s history. Born 2 years apart into the prominent and wealthy Chen family, the sisters grew up in a beautiful villa in Fuzhou built by their father — a home they came to know as the Flower Fragrant Garden. When the onset of World War II and Japan’s invasion of various parts of China forces the Chen family to flee their home, Jun especially finds her hard-won right to further her education through attending college completely upended. Hong also experiences hardship during this period, but she is ultimately able to finish her studies and fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. At the end of the war, with China and the Allies victorious, the family thought they would be able to return to their former lives as well as their beloved villa in the mountains, but it was not to be. Civil war breaks out between the ruling Nationalist Party and the Communists, with everything coming to a head when Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan and the Communist Party comes to power under Mao Zedong. During this time, the sisters’ lives are changed forever when Jun ends up stuck on an island under Nationalist control and, unable to return to the Mainland, eventually moves to Taiwan and marries a Nationalist general, which results in estrangement from her family for decades. Hong meanwhile endures the many hardships brought about by the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and many of the other disastrous “initiatives” implemented in China during that time. It is not until 1982, after decades apart, with both sisters having survived various hardships, that Jun and Hong are finally able to reunite.
In this chronicle of her two aunts’ extraordinary lives, Zhuqing Li tells the story of her family line set against the backdrop of China’s turbulent post-WWII sociopolitical history and the evolution of the country’s fraught relationship with Taiwan. I actually started this book last week and finished it on Saturday (June 4th), which happened to be the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre (a coincidence that only dawned on me after I finished reading the book). Though this particular story isn’t about Tiananmen Square (despite that event still being mentioned in the book, albeit briefly), its significance in terms of China’s political history is, of course, not lost on me Even though I was only 11 years old when the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred and of course, having already immigrated to the U.S. years before that, I was thousands of miles away, but that didn’t make it any less impactful, especially as a Chinese girl coming of age during that time. In that context, this was, without a doubt, not an easy read by any means — hearing Jun’s and Hong’s stories, with the unflinching descriptions of harrowing experiences they had to endure, the political undercurrents that dominated their entire lives, it was hard not to be moved by the resilience and endurance of these two remarkable women.
Regardless of background, this will undoubtedly be a difficult read for those who decide to pick this one up, but it is well worth the effort. On the surface, this may seem like simply a story of two sisters separated by war, but much deeper than that, it is also an insightful look into Chinese history, culture, politics, and much more.
Received ARC from W. W. Norton via Bookbrowse First Impressions program.
January 16, 2023
4.5 stars
A fabulous nonfiction tale of two of the author’s aunts, who had very different destinies. Jun and Hong were the elder two sisters in a wealthy, complicated Fuzhou family (two wives, lots of kids), fortunate enough to get good educations despite being displaced for most of their adolescence due to Japan’s WWII invasion of China. Jun studied to be a teacher, and following a job interview in Xiamen, took a fateful vacation with a friend on a nearby island. That island became the last bastion of Nationalist resistance, leaving her stranded and cut off from her family as the Communists took over the mainland. This set the course for the rest of Jun’s life, as she took a job with the military, married a high-ranking officer, raised her family on Taiwan, became a hardnosed businesswoman, and ultimately took a circuitous and demanding route home.
Younger sister Hong, meanwhile, took a completely different route. Always practical, she studied to be a doctor; at first refusing to be pigeonholed into ob-gyn practice based on her sex, exposure to the rampant gynecological diseases of the impoverished—highly curable, but leading to ostracism and blighted lives if left untreated—ultimately inspired her to spearhead campaigns to treat these diseases in the countryside. Her family’s Nationalist past put some serious stumbling blocks in her way—most dramatically, during the Cultural Revolution this caused her medical license to be revoked, while she was exiled for years to a remote mountain village. In later years she seems to have retained no bitterness about that experience, focusing instead on the latest medical work to be done, genuinely believing in helping the poor and willing to accept the Party with all its failings and potential. She was even roped into a leadership role in the one-child campaign, bringing as much humanity as she could to the government’s demands.
It’s an enthralling story all around, Li tells it well, and although it took me a chapter or two to get invested, I was soon very eager to learn what would happen next. The author herself is the daughter of a younger sister from the second wife, and was a bit in awe of her aunts (at the time this book went to press, one was in her mid-90s and going strong, the other only recently deceased), but she still digs deep, raises difficult issues, and writes with insight and complexity. And it’s clear they gave her a lot of material to work with. There’s a lot to this story: a lot of Chinese history encapsulated in the family’s experiences; a lot of moral and emotional complexity. I don’t think I’d ever understood older Chinese people’s willingness to go along with the party line so well as I did reading Hong’s story. It isn’t just fear or brainwashing, but a pragmatic, forward-looking attitude focused on the difference she can make in the world while leaving the rest to others.
While there were a few bits where the writing might have been a little smoother, overall this is very readable and well-written, especially impressive given that the author herself learned English somewhat late. If I have any real complaint it’s that I would have loved to know more about the other siblings’ lives, but perhaps that would have made the book unwieldy or revealed more than they were willing to publicize. We do see something of them early and late in the book; the family’s reunion, of course, falls short of what Jun at least wished it to be.
Ultimately, this one is a great choice for those interested in seeing history through individual human stories, or just stories of tough-minded women making their way against the odds. It can be difficult to read in places, as they lived through horrific times, but it’s an enthralling book and I’m grateful that the author and her aunts were willing to share their impressive stories.
A fabulous nonfiction tale of two of the author’s aunts, who had very different destinies. Jun and Hong were the elder two sisters in a wealthy, complicated Fuzhou family (two wives, lots of kids), fortunate enough to get good educations despite being displaced for most of their adolescence due to Japan’s WWII invasion of China. Jun studied to be a teacher, and following a job interview in Xiamen, took a fateful vacation with a friend on a nearby island. That island became the last bastion of Nationalist resistance, leaving her stranded and cut off from her family as the Communists took over the mainland. This set the course for the rest of Jun’s life, as she took a job with the military, married a high-ranking officer, raised her family on Taiwan, became a hardnosed businesswoman, and ultimately took a circuitous and demanding route home.
Younger sister Hong, meanwhile, took a completely different route. Always practical, she studied to be a doctor; at first refusing to be pigeonholed into ob-gyn practice based on her sex, exposure to the rampant gynecological diseases of the impoverished—highly curable, but leading to ostracism and blighted lives if left untreated—ultimately inspired her to spearhead campaigns to treat these diseases in the countryside. Her family’s Nationalist past put some serious stumbling blocks in her way—most dramatically, during the Cultural Revolution this caused her medical license to be revoked, while she was exiled for years to a remote mountain village. In later years she seems to have retained no bitterness about that experience, focusing instead on the latest medical work to be done, genuinely believing in helping the poor and willing to accept the Party with all its failings and potential. She was even roped into a leadership role in the one-child campaign, bringing as much humanity as she could to the government’s demands.
It’s an enthralling story all around, Li tells it well, and although it took me a chapter or two to get invested, I was soon very eager to learn what would happen next. The author herself is the daughter of a younger sister from the second wife, and was a bit in awe of her aunts (at the time this book went to press, one was in her mid-90s and going strong, the other only recently deceased), but she still digs deep, raises difficult issues, and writes with insight and complexity. And it’s clear they gave her a lot of material to work with. There’s a lot to this story: a lot of Chinese history encapsulated in the family’s experiences; a lot of moral and emotional complexity. I don’t think I’d ever understood older Chinese people’s willingness to go along with the party line so well as I did reading Hong’s story. It isn’t just fear or brainwashing, but a pragmatic, forward-looking attitude focused on the difference she can make in the world while leaving the rest to others.
While there were a few bits where the writing might have been a little smoother, overall this is very readable and well-written, especially impressive given that the author herself learned English somewhat late. If I have any real complaint it’s that I would have loved to know more about the other siblings’ lives, but perhaps that would have made the book unwieldy or revealed more than they were willing to publicize. We do see something of them early and late in the book; the family’s reunion, of course, falls short of what Jun at least wished it to be.
Ultimately, this one is a great choice for those interested in seeing history through individual human stories, or just stories of tough-minded women making their way against the odds. It can be difficult to read in places, as they lived through horrific times, but it’s an enthralling book and I’m grateful that the author and her aunts were willing to share their impressive stories.
September 2, 2023
A well-researched, engaging memoir about the author’s two aunts. The time spans almost 100 years from the 1920s to 2020.
The story of Hong (a quick Google search reveals her true name is 陈文祯) is so very familiar. Have you ever watched the magic show where a magician puts a person into a box, then trusts swords into the box? The magician’s assistant, usually an agile young woman, would contort herself inside to avoid the cut. The Chinese Communist Party played a cruel version of this game, where intellectuals like Hong were locked up inside a box while the party repeatedly cut into it. Less agile ones were killed, and those lucky ones who survived were contorted beyond recognition. Even after they were let out of the box, the box never left them.
The story of Hong (a quick Google search reveals her true name is 陈文祯) is so very familiar. Have you ever watched the magic show where a magician puts a person into a box, then trusts swords into the box? The magician’s assistant, usually an agile young woman, would contort herself inside to avoid the cut. The Chinese Communist Party played a cruel version of this game, where intellectuals like Hong were locked up inside a box while the party repeatedly cut into it. Less agile ones were killed, and those lucky ones who survived were contorted beyond recognition. Even after they were let out of the box, the box never left them.
October 12, 2022
A tour de force of a family history--Li must have spent a massive amount of time working on this incredible book. Her maternal family, the Chens, were an old, illustrious powerhouse. There's an opera about one of them! And then came the wars and the beginning of communism in China, and the family was split, but not forever.
Li traces her aunts' life stories here. They are the daughters of the father's first wife (Li herself a granddaughter of the second wife). The older aunt, Jun, ended up in Taiwan, and thus separated from her family for decades, rather by accident. Though she made a successful life for herself, the separation was a hole in her heart. The younger aunt, Hong, a pseudonym, became a physician and had a complex and illustrious career under communism. She faced political persecution because of her family history and estranged sister, but led China to the modern day in obstetrics and gynecology.
Not one I will forget anytime soon. Li's writing is absolutely amazing for an ESL writer (a difficulty she notes in her acknowledgements) and I could hardly put the book down--it's a page-turner with excellent pacing. A few more maps would have been appreciated, and a family tree would be a great boon to comprehension.
If you are hoping to learn about the tumultuous history of 20th-century China and Taiwan in the manageable scope of one family's story, look no further. If you have any interest in gynecology during the Great Leap Forward, and what one doctor did to care for rural Chinese women, Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden considers that in its complexities. I'm not saying it's a Chinese Call the Midwife or anything, but it is somehow heartening to know a woman doctor, who was still practicing at the age of 96 in 2021, saved so many women's lives in a society that considered women expendable.
Content warnings: description of medical procedures (especially gynecological/obstetric), some violence. Not as much as I've faced in other books set in China in this time period, and nothing is over-described. I'm sure that came from Hong's and Jun's reticence in telling their stories as much as Li's editorial choices.
Li traces her aunts' life stories here. They are the daughters of the father's first wife (Li herself a granddaughter of the second wife). The older aunt, Jun, ended up in Taiwan, and thus separated from her family for decades, rather by accident. Though she made a successful life for herself, the separation was a hole in her heart. The younger aunt, Hong, a pseudonym, became a physician and had a complex and illustrious career under communism. She faced political persecution because of her family history and estranged sister, but led China to the modern day in obstetrics and gynecology.
Not one I will forget anytime soon. Li's writing is absolutely amazing for an ESL writer (a difficulty she notes in her acknowledgements) and I could hardly put the book down--it's a page-turner with excellent pacing. A few more maps would have been appreciated, and a family tree would be a great boon to comprehension.
If you are hoping to learn about the tumultuous history of 20th-century China and Taiwan in the manageable scope of one family's story, look no further. If you have any interest in gynecology during the Great Leap Forward, and what one doctor did to care for rural Chinese women, Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden considers that in its complexities. I'm not saying it's a Chinese Call the Midwife or anything, but it is somehow heartening to know a woman doctor, who was still practicing at the age of 96 in 2021, saved so many women's lives in a society that considered women expendable.
Content warnings: description of medical procedures (especially gynecological/obstetric), some violence. Not as much as I've faced in other books set in China in this time period, and nothing is over-described. I'm sure that came from Hong's and Jun's reticence in telling their stories as much as Li's editorial choices.
July 13, 2022
Best book I’ve read in a while. Will definitely be recommending it to family and friends. The author does a great job sharing her two aunts’ journeys through their own lenses. The story is both heart wrenching and heart warming at the same time. Definitely worth a read!
February 7, 2023
This story is extraordinary.
June 21, 2022
Two Sisters of China
This enthralling story of two sisters Jun and Hong reads like a novel but is a true story of the Chen family over 40 years of Chinese history. The author Zhuqing Li relates the events in the lives of primarily her two aunts and the disastrous turn their lives take during the Chinese Civil War which left one sister choosing a future in the medical field and supporting the Communist Chinese while the other sister becomes an educator and supporter of the Nationalists on Taiwan. The family remaining in mainland China soon found that their survival would depend on disowning the sister on Taiwan. If you enjoy a story of women who survive against dire oppression and rise up to provide strength to others then this book will appeal. I also found that I was learning a great deal about a time and place in history that I have not seen covered in memoirs such as this. This is an important personal recounting of the Chinese history that brought about the splitting of China and Taiwan and will certainly provide understanding as we face the uncertainties of that situation in our present time.
This enthralling story of two sisters Jun and Hong reads like a novel but is a true story of the Chen family over 40 years of Chinese history. The author Zhuqing Li relates the events in the lives of primarily her two aunts and the disastrous turn their lives take during the Chinese Civil War which left one sister choosing a future in the medical field and supporting the Communist Chinese while the other sister becomes an educator and supporter of the Nationalists on Taiwan. The family remaining in mainland China soon found that their survival would depend on disowning the sister on Taiwan. If you enjoy a story of women who survive against dire oppression and rise up to provide strength to others then this book will appeal. I also found that I was learning a great deal about a time and place in history that I have not seen covered in memoirs such as this. This is an important personal recounting of the Chinese history that brought about the splitting of China and Taiwan and will certainly provide understanding as we face the uncertainties of that situation in our present time.
May 28, 2022
I don’t read a lot of non-fiction books. However, I was immediately drawn to this book because it was the story of two sisters, with very similar childhood backgrounds, yet vastly different adult lives due to the Chinese Civil War. I was eager to learn about a part of history I knew little about through different lenses. Part I of IV was a bit fragmented because it dealt with childhood memories and experiences, which are in bits and pieces most people’s minds. However, the remainder of the book flowed well. I was amazed at the perseverance of both sisters, and their ability to adapt and overcome difficulties. As the author wrote, “It was the tremendous force of will they had in common that … powered them.” There were so many fascinating details included! Often, what I read was literally jaw dropping! This is a remarkable book about two remarkable women. Readers of both fiction and non-fiction books will be taken in by their stories.
@bookbrowse
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March 31, 2023
Hong and Jun, sisters in pre-communist China, suddenly find themselves separated due to a fluke of a vacation over the Chinese Communist revolution. Jun is completely cut off from the rest of her family for over 30 years and lives a completely different life from her family in Mainland China. Hong lives a harrowing life under Communism.
This truly was a fascinating story that did grab my attention and keep me reading. The writing and editing was quite lacking, however. Page breaks and paragraphs splits didn’t make sense, some chapters went on while others were quick. Sometimes it just failed to pack the potential punch for the reader, like something was lost in translation. This was a very personal story for the author and she clearly had so much invested emotionally, there was just something about the style and editing that made it hard to read. At times the pages flew, in others it was a struggle, especially when the author switched to first person. But still, an amazing story.
This truly was a fascinating story that did grab my attention and keep me reading. The writing and editing was quite lacking, however. Page breaks and paragraphs splits didn’t make sense, some chapters went on while others were quick. Sometimes it just failed to pack the potential punch for the reader, like something was lost in translation. This was a very personal story for the author and she clearly had so much invested emotionally, there was just something about the style and editing that made it hard to read. At times the pages flew, in others it was a struggle, especially when the author switched to first person. But still, an amazing story.
July 20, 2024
ZHUQING LI HAS written a compelling book about family secrets, Cold War politics, and the emotional consequences of displacement. In Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War, Li, a professor of linguistics and curator of the Rockefeller Library at Brown University, narrates the life stories of her two aunts: Jun, who became an entrepreneur in Taiwan and the United States, and Hong, who became a prominent obstetrician and gynecologist in China. Separated by circumstances beyond their control, the sisters demonstrate resilience and ambition in the face of adversity. The experiences of these two women, one determined to remember and the other determined to forget, suggest the effects of civil war and revolution on both those who left for Taiwan in 1949 and those who stayed behind in t Mao'sPeople’s Republic of China.lareview
September 8, 2023
3.5: Started off quite weakly and was difficult to follow because of the unusual point of view. But as it gained momentum into the middle and end of the book, I began to feel the immersion into the daily life and struggles of communist China through the lives of two of the author's aunts and the disparate paths their lives took.
August 2, 2023
So good, so readable — fascinating and powerful story of the Chinese civil war and its impact on one family. Shoutout jadelstein for the book ❤️ i loved it and read in two days!!
August 3, 2023
Had to drop it. Not bad, but I had my fill of stories from China/Taiwan, rich families, with younger generations becoming communist, etc…etc…
August 3, 2022
Zhuqing Li had me riveted to this story of her aunts separated by the Chinese civil war. The juxtaposition between life in communist China and democratic Taiwan was not only educational, it served to provide essential context to the tribulations endured by each of Jun and Hong. Both of them are a supreme inspiration for perseverance and triumph. The book is an easy read, and a necessary one. Finally, I enjoyed the sisters’ story so much, I also purchased the audiobook and listened to the unparalleled Nancy Wu narrate Zhuqing’s compelling prose — a win-win!
July 13, 2022
In “Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden,” Zhuqing Li shares a deeply human story about her aunts, Jun and Hong, who lived through the consequences of the notorious mainland China/Taiwan’s historic split, a time of traumatic change and unmatched resilience in Asia.
The sisters were the offspring of a southern Chinese family, each other’s best friend, and grew up in the 1930’s days of Old China prior to the political revolution that changed China forever. By chance, both ladies found themselves separated. June in Taiwan is married to a National general and living among fellow exiles at odds with the new regime. On the mainland, Hong is forced to disavow her family’s background and her sister’s decision, in order to continue her career as a doctor. She is forced to tolerate several waves of re-education by working in exile in very remote areas of the backcountry. Both ladies were faced with tense decisions as they go forth and forge careers and families midst this upheaval. With determination and ambition on the part of both women, Jun established several important trading companies while Hong becomes one of the celebrated Chinese doctors.
This riveting and deeply personal account is a celebration of these remarkable ladies’ legacies.
Thank you BookBrowse for my copy.
The sisters were the offspring of a southern Chinese family, each other’s best friend, and grew up in the 1930’s days of Old China prior to the political revolution that changed China forever. By chance, both ladies found themselves separated. June in Taiwan is married to a National general and living among fellow exiles at odds with the new regime. On the mainland, Hong is forced to disavow her family’s background and her sister’s decision, in order to continue her career as a doctor. She is forced to tolerate several waves of re-education by working in exile in very remote areas of the backcountry. Both ladies were faced with tense decisions as they go forth and forge careers and families midst this upheaval. With determination and ambition on the part of both women, Jun established several important trading companies while Hong becomes one of the celebrated Chinese doctors.
This riveting and deeply personal account is a celebration of these remarkable ladies’ legacies.
Thank you BookBrowse for my copy.
April 29, 2025
This was a fascinating story, and while the writing itself wasn’t the strongest, the compelling narrative more than made up for it. One sister’s life became far more interesting to follow than the other’s at a certain point, and the final chapters did feel somewhat dragged (I skimmed some parts). Still, this book left me in awe.
August 24, 2022
This is the incredible story of two remarkable women suddenly separated by a nation at war and the lives they created while surviving their exile. It is a nonfiction but reads even more compelling than fiction because it is real. Set in China and Taiwan during the mid-late 20th century helps to also shed light on the current political discussions of today. Li writes a can’t put it down book.
March 19, 2025
It’s a hard read, since it describes a tumultuous time in recent history, but it’s worth it. It tells the story of twentieth century China through the lens of one family, from a city and a province that I’m connected to.
Jun, the older sister, finds herself stranded and separated from her family in mainland China, and remembers their family and ancestral home fondly, with nostalgia, always striving to return and reunite with them. She never recovers her position within the family, impossible after years of exile.
Hong, who suffers due to her family connections, would rather forget the past and focus on the future. Labelled a counterrevolutionary, her and husband both had their medical licenses revoked and watched helplessly as less capable surgeons harmed patients through their inexperience, before banishing them to the countryside. Hong later found her career restored to become a pioneer in women’s reproductive health, but tried never to look back.
The LA Review of Books has a great summary and review of this moving story. It’s well written, and I enjoyed it
Jun, the older sister, finds herself stranded and separated from her family in mainland China, and remembers their family and ancestral home fondly, with nostalgia, always striving to return and reunite with them. She never recovers her position within the family, impossible after years of exile.
Hong, who suffers due to her family connections, would rather forget the past and focus on the future. Labelled a counterrevolutionary, her and husband both had their medical licenses revoked and watched helplessly as less capable surgeons harmed patients through their inexperience, before banishing them to the countryside. Hong later found her career restored to become a pioneer in women’s reproductive health, but tried never to look back.
The LA Review of Books has a great summary and review of this moving story. It’s well written, and I enjoyed it
July 4, 2022
4.5 STARS
A beautiful and historical account of a family growing up in China's turbulent past. The account centers around two sisters separated as teenagers, one to Taiwan and one to mainland China. Hong and Jun live separate lives, marry, and have children, and each builds successful careers. Jun becomes a teacher, journalist, and businesswoman, while Hong is a devoted and well-respected doctor in gynecology/obstetrics. Three decades later, when Jun is granted permission to visit the mainland, she meets up with her sister, Hong. They both live into their nineties.
Written by Jun's niece, this engaging story encapsulates China's history while covering the lives of two extraordinary women who leave behind legacies in today's China.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for this ARC.
A beautiful and historical account of a family growing up in China's turbulent past. The account centers around two sisters separated as teenagers, one to Taiwan and one to mainland China. Hong and Jun live separate lives, marry, and have children, and each builds successful careers. Jun becomes a teacher, journalist, and businesswoman, while Hong is a devoted and well-respected doctor in gynecology/obstetrics. Three decades later, when Jun is granted permission to visit the mainland, she meets up with her sister, Hong. They both live into their nineties.
Written by Jun's niece, this engaging story encapsulates China's history while covering the lives of two extraordinary women who leave behind legacies in today's China.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for this ARC.
September 8, 2022
I do not give five stars willingly. This book was on my shelf for months because I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it. I was hooked from the first paragraph of the prologue. Not only is it a compelling story of family, more importantly it is documentation of history that most of us in the United States are not taught. Add to that it is a powerful anthem to women holding jobs and innovating in their fields long before the 21st century made that a catch phrase - and they were doing it in a country where traditional roles ruled.
May 21, 2024
4 1/2 stars rounded up. The tale of two of the author’s Chinese aunts, who end up being separated by a quirk of fate and as a consequence, leading very different lives. One sent to a reeducation camp during the Cultural Revolution, the other stranded in Taiwan while visiting a friend. Through the stories of her remarkable aunts, the author explores Chinese history during the second half of the 20th century. Beautifully written. Themes of perseverance and survival, determination and resourcefulness, family relationships. Excellent audio narration.
August 8, 2022
This book held my interest to the end. Two sisters accidentally separated by war. The author takes us on the journey of the sisters lives, the contrast, and the longing to go back home for one and the struggle to fit in communist China for the other. I learned a lot about a country and culture I knew so little about.
April 17, 2023
Incredible story, written by a niece, of two sisters and their families torn apart by history. This is a hard read, taking place during the rise of communism in china, the Mao years. The sisters and their families suffering under decisions and circumstances of government fates.
July 6, 2024
A really great but poorly written book. Written about the authors two aunts and their live before and after they were inadvertently split by the rise of the Peoples Republic of China, the content was amazing but I just kept getting pulled out of it by clunky writing. Would recommend for anyone wanting to learn more about the emotional, social and familial effects of the separation of mainland China and Taiwan for people on both sides of the bamboo curtain.
November 12, 2023
Wow. I loved this book. So much history but also a story about a family.
May 23, 2025
Grabbed from Hoopla on a whim, was absolutely fascinated!! I knew very little about the “bamboo curtain” — I learned a lot. 4.5 ⭐️
May 24, 2025
Very fitting to finish the book I was awarded by Brown after my first year there and around the same season..
April 28, 2024
I listened to the audiobook and it was such a fast listen. The true stories of these two sisters and all that they each accomplished in their circumstances are amazing and inspiring. Definitely recommended.
May 18, 2025
Pôvodne som plánovala stiahnuť hviezdičku, pretože kniha by si ešte zaslúžila editora, niekedy išla rýchlo, niekedy pomaly. Ale nemôžem jej strhnúť nič, pretože bola aj napriek tomu skvelá.
Dve sestry rozdelí občianska vojna v Číne, jedna uviazne na Taiwane, druhá so zvyškom rodiny na pevninskej Číne a samozrejme jej kvôli sestre žijúcej na nepriateľskom území robia komunisti zo života peklo. Príbehy oboch sestier zozbierala ich neter a približuje ich v tejto biografii.
Dozvedela som sa toho o Číne v tomto období neuveriteľne veľa, a na to, že to bola biografia mi všetci veľmi prirástli k srdcu. Je neuveriteľné, čo sa dá v živote vydržať a ísť ďalej a dokonca z toho ešte vyťažiť niečo dobré pre spoločnosť.
Odporúčam všetkými desiatimi.
Dve sestry rozdelí občianska vojna v Číne, jedna uviazne na Taiwane, druhá so zvyškom rodiny na pevninskej Číne a samozrejme jej kvôli sestre žijúcej na nepriateľskom území robia komunisti zo života peklo. Príbehy oboch sestier zozbierala ich neter a približuje ich v tejto biografii.
Dozvedela som sa toho o Číne v tomto období neuveriteľne veľa, a na to, že to bola biografia mi všetci veľmi prirástli k srdcu. Je neuveriteľné, čo sa dá v živote vydržať a ísť ďalej a dokonca z toho ešte vyťažiť niečo dobré pre spoločnosť.
Odporúčam všetkými desiatimi.
November 6, 2025
Enjoyed learning about the Taiwan/mainland China divide from Jun and Hong.
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